Worcester business energy: National Grid

National Grid delivers, and the class decides the account

Worcester is National Grid territory, which makes it a different buying problem from Boston, where delivery comes from Eversource. National Grid's Massachusetts electric delivery tariff sorts commercial accounts into three classes, and the schedule printed on the bill tells a buyer which one applies. G-1, the general service small commercial and industrial rate, is designed for accounts using under 10,000 kilowatt-hours a month or with a maximum demand under 200 kW. G-2, the general service demand rate, is designed for medium business accounts using more than 10,000 kilowatt-hours a month with demand below the same threshold, and it bills a demand component alongside energy. G-3, the general service time-of-use rate, is for large business accounts and is mandatory for a customer whose twelve-month average monthly demand reaches 200 kW or greater for three consecutive months; it carries separate peak and off-peak energy rates and a variety of special clauses, including an optional transmission coincident peak demand charge. Those descriptions are the utility's own, from its Massachusetts summary of rates - bill insert CM4394, which carries an edition code and year. The insert is the document to read against a quote, because the delivery rates printed in it change with each edition, and the class thresholds are stated in it rather than in a marketing page. The class matters before any offer is compared because it fixes what a supplier is pricing against: a G-2 or G-3 account's demand profile is part of the arithmetic, while a G-1 account is largely a consumption question.

• Worcester delivery comes from National Grid, not Eversource, whose territory covers Boston.
• G-1 is designed for accounts under 10,000 kWh a month or under 200 kW of maximum demand.
• G-2 is the medium-business rate above 10,000 kWh a month, with a demand component billed alongside energy.
• G-3 is the large-business time-of-use rate, mandatory at a twelve-month average monthly demand of 200 kW or greater for three consecutive months.
• Read the rate schedule off the bill first: it decides which charges a supplier's offer is measured against.

Two clocks: how default supply prices move in Massachusetts

Massachusetts gives the classes different default supply arrangements, and the difference is a timing trap for a business that switches. Under National Grid's basic service, small business accounts on the G-1 rate are placed on the fixed price, which changes on the first of February and the first of August. Medium and large accounts on G-2 and G-3 are placed on the monthly variable price instead, and their rate-change schedule runs on the first of February, May, August and November, so their pricing period is three months. The insert also states the terms of the fixed option itself: the fixed period runs six months for most customers and three months for large business customers, and a customer that elects the fixed option can switch only once. The tariff then describes what happens when one of those accounts leaves early: a G-2 or G-3 customer that took the fixed price option and switches to a competitive supplier before the three-month pricing period is over has its electric bill recalculated as though it had been on the variable price for the months already used in that period, so that the account pays the actual cost of the electricity it consumed. In practice the switch date, not the signature date, decides whether that adjustment lands. A business comparing an offer with the utility's own supply should line the two up against the same pricing period rather than against whichever month the quote happens to be written in.

• G-1 basic service is a fixed price that changes on 1 February and 1 August.
• G-2 and G-3 basic service runs on the monthly variable price, with rate changes on 1 February, 1 May, 1 August and 1 November.
• A G-2 or G-3 account that elects the fixed price and switches to a competitive supplier mid-period has its bill recalculated on the variable basis for the months used. The fixed period is six months for most customers and three for large business customers, and the fixed option can be elected only once.
• Compare an offer and the default on the same pricing period, and note the switch date rather than the signing date.

The city is a supplier in its own territory

Worcester runs its own aggregation programme, and it is a real buyer in the market rather than a referral service. The Department of Public Utilities order in Docket D.P.U. 19-41 records that the City filed a petition on 31 January 2019 for approval of a municipal aggregation plan under the state statute that allows a municipality to aggregate the load of electric customers within its borders, and that Worcester retained MassPowerChoice, LLC as its aggregation consultant. The programme is the Green Worcester ElectriCITY Municipal Aggregation Programme, and under the approved plan customers are enrolled automatically unless they choose to opt out, with the ability to leave at any time and return to basic service. Two details from the order matter commercially. The programme employs the utility's own customer classes rather than inventing its own, and the order records prices and terms differing among those classes. And the opt-out process was litigated over a commercial point: National Grid recommended the opt-out notice mention a one-time reconciliation charge for certain commercial and industrial accounts, the G-2 and G-3 basic service customers on the fixed price option, with the City replying that it would apply to eleven of roughly sixty thousand eligible customers. That exchange is the useful signal for a business: enrolling in, or leaving, a municipal programme has consequences that are class-specific, and they are worth reading in the programme's own documents.

• The City of Worcester petitioned for aggregation approval on 31 January 2019; the docket is D.P.U. 19-41.
• Worcester retained MassPowerChoice, LLC as its municipal aggregation consultant.
• Under the approved plan customers are enrolled automatically unless they opt out, and may opt out at any time to return to basic service.
• The programme employs National Grid's customer classes, and terms may differ between them.
• The order records a reconciliation-charge discussion specific to G-2 and G-3 accounts on the fixed price option.

What the aggregation changes on a Worcester account

A municipal aggregation changes the supply line and nothing else, which is the same boundary a competitive supplier operates within. National Grid continues to deliver the electricity, read the meter, restore service after an outage and issue the bill; the city's programme is the entity buying the commodity that flows through those wires. The city's own description of the programme makes the trade-off explicit in a way that is worth taking at face value: it aims at a supply price that is fixed for the contract year rather than reset on the utility's schedule, it describes the programme as bulk purchasing with the supply sourced above the state's minimum renewable requirement, and it states plainly that the programme cannot guarantee savings because the utility's own prices will change and future prices are unknown. That is an honest framing of what an aggregation is: a procurement method with a renewable-content and price-stability argument, not a discount. For a business deciding whether to stay enrolled, the questions are the ones the documents answer directly - which class the account falls into, what the programme's opt-out notice says about leaving, and what the account would pay on the utility's default if it did.

• An aggregation changes the supply line only: delivery, metering, outage response and billing stay with National Grid.
• The city describes the programme as bulk purchasing with supply sourced above the state's renewable minimum.
• The city states the programme cannot guarantee savings, because utility prices change and future prices are unknown.
• Read the class, the opt-out terms and the default alternative before deciding whether to stay enrolled.

Why Worcester runs a programme of its own

The aggregation is not a standalone procurement exercise; it sits inside a city climate plan with dated targets. The Green Worcester Plan came into effect in April 2021 and sets out goals of 100 per cent renewable energy for municipal facilities by 2030, 100 per cent renewable electricity citywide by 2035, and 100 per cent renewable energy across all sectors, including heating and transportation, by 2045. The plan carries a specific action to reach the 2035 electricity goal through aggregation. For a commercial buyer the practical effect is that the city has a structural reason to keep buying in bulk on behalf of the accounts it can aggregate, and the programme is one more counterparty in a market where a business may also be approached by competitive suppliers directly. That also means the same address can receive two different kinds of approach: the city's programme enrolled automatically through the utility's process, and direct marketing from suppliers. Establishing which one applies to the account is the first step, and the second is confirming in writing what happens at the end of the programme's contract term.

• The Green Worcester Plan took effect in April 2021.
• Its goals include 100 per cent renewable electricity citywide by 2035 and 100 per cent renewable energy in all sectors by 2045.
• The plan names aggregation as the route to the 2035 electricity goal.
• An enrolled account is one counterparty; direct supplier approaches are another, and the two should not be confused.

What to assemble before quoting a Worcester address

Begin with the National Grid rate schedule printed on the bill, because in this market the class decides both the delivery charges and the default supply clock the account is on. Record the delivery charges as printed and the account and meter numbers, then the supply arrangement in force: a competitive supplier, the city's programme, or basic service. From the account's history take twelve months of consumption with the maximum demand recorded in each month, which is what separates a G-1 account from a G-2 or G-3 one in the arithmetic even if the schedule on the bill disagrees. From any existing agreement take the end date and the notice period, read from the contract itself. Then establish two things that decide the answer here: whether the account is enrolled in the city's aggregation, and what the switch date would be, because the mid-period recalculation on a G-2 or G-3 basic service account turns on when the switch takes effect. Competitive supply depends on the service address, the meter and the utility territory that serves it; municipal utilities, cooperatives and some jurisdictions have no choice at all. HighGround works as an advisor-assisted channel rather than a rate table, sourcing electricity and natural gas supply through the Broker Online Exchange supplier network. HighGround may receive provider compensation on completed purchases, and an inquiry places no order and switches no supplier.

• The National Grid rate schedule from the bill, then the delivery charges, account and meter numbers.
• Twelve months of consumption by month with each month's maximum demand, to test the class against the arithmetic.
• The agreement's end date and notice period, plus whether the account is enrolled in the city's aggregation.
• The intended switch date, because it decides whether a G-2 or G-3 account is recalculated mid-period.

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